A Grip on Sports: While the Zags were rockin’ down the highway in the second half, the Cougars looked to be stuck in second gear
A GRIP ON SPORTS • For some reason, a couple catchy pop tunes were running through my head during the second half of Gonzaga’s 88-75 West Coast Conference – yes, conference – win over visiting Washington State last night.
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• As I watched, and took notes about, WSU fall behind in what had been a tight game at the start, the lyrics from the “Friends” theme song started intruding in the back of my head. Just one line, really.
“It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear …”
It just fit the way the Cougars were playing after halftime.
The Zags? A much-more obscure Doobie Brothers’ hit – if you want to stretch the word “hit” a little, seeing it might only apply among myself and a few high school friends – “Rockin’ Down the Highway” seemed to be appropriate.
As Tom Johnston warbled, the Zags were “flyin’ down the road with my foot on the floor …”
With one team redlining and the other trying to figure out how to drive a stick shift, it’s little wonder the Bulldogs went from one down late in the first half to leading by more than 20 about halfway through the second.
Yes, the Zags got dudes, as Seth Davis likes to say. Most of them came to play last night in the Kennel. Most notably Graham Ike, who bullied his way inside to a game-high 21 points and five rebounds. And Nolan Hickman, who stepped up with Ryan Nembhard in foul trouble, ran the point and still found time to score 19 points, hitting 5-of-8 3-pointers as part of his stellar performance.
The Cougars had some dudes, too, just not as many as they had when the season began. The injuries to such key contributors as Cedric Coward and Isaiah Watts finally took a toll during the week, contributing to the looking-ahead-too-much loss at home to woeful Pacific and the second-half breakdown Saturday night.
The first game in almost a decade between the schools, and the 151st overall, seemed evenly matched for about 20 minutes. But with only eight players available, the Cougars needed to avoid foul trouble. And had to shoot lights out from beyond the arc. Neither happened. What did, however, was a revelation of a performance from Nate Calmese, the well-traveled – a term that applies to more than one player on the McCarthy court last night – Wazzu point guard.
The former Husky zoomed around when needed, slowed the pace as called for, attacked, found the open man at the right time, did all the things with the ball Ryan Nembhard does for Gonzaga. And, for this night, did them better, finishing with 20 points (on 9-of-14 shooting). More importantly, he dished out eight assists. His five turnovers in 32 minutes? I thought at least two of them should have gone to the recipient of his pass due to lack of awareness, but that’s the subjective nature of that statistic.
Nembhard, slowed by first-half foul trouble and a lingering battle with influenza, did little in 10 first-half minutes. But he was the chauffeur, as usual, after recess, finishing with nine points, five assists and only a trio of speeding tickets. Like all the Zags, he was rockin’ down the highway.
• The loss didn’t impact Washington State’s NET ranking at all. The Cougars started, and finished, the day at 75, a drop of almost 20 spots – thanks to the Pacific debacle – from where they started the week. The Zags, though, did take a hit even with the relatively easy win, dropping one spot and falling out of the top 10.
The rest of the month should be OK, though. If the Bulldogs can avoid a slip. They play Oregon State (44) on the road and at home. Santa Clara (66) in the Kennel. The one game that will hurt, win or, goodness gracious no, lose? Portland (319) at home. Win all four, and have nonconference foes like UCLA – awful lately – play better and the NET ranking should be OK.
• One personal note. Received a picture via text yesterday. It was from my best, longest friend. It was of his childhood home. Well, not the home exactly. The brick work at the front of the home. The front steps too. A few rocks. A chimney. That was all that was left of the Upper Hastings Ranch house in Pasadena. The Eaton Fire had taken the rest.
Still no word on where I grew up and where my father took his last breath. But my sister is hopeful of being able to discover something this week. Some clarity would be nice, sure, but I can’t complain. Not after the destruction we all can witness rages on.
One friend compared what happened in Southern California to a local area, saying it was like a fire had swept away all of the South Hill, from Tower Mountain to Peaceful Valley. That brought it home. And scared the bejeezus out of me.
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WSU: We’ll leave the coverage of the men’s game to the Gonzaga section below, even Greg Woods’ story on the Cougs’ performance. But we will pass along here Greg Lee’s coverage of the women’s game from Pullman, also won by the Bulldogs. Not only do we have that story to pass along, but Geoff Crimmins’ photo gallery for the S-R as well. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, the biggest loser in the CFP results thus far? Jon Wilner in the Mercury News tells us it is either Brian Kelly, as he abandoned Notre Dame in an attempt to win a national title, or the SEC, the conference Kelly fled to in his Don Quixote-like quest. … Oregon State just continues to add to its roster. … Bill McCartney brought respectability back to Colorado when it had little. … An assistant coach has quietly left the Arizona program. … Among the future Pac-12 members in the Mountain West, no Western school seems more active in the recruiting field than Fresno State right now. … In basketball news, the Oregon State men scored its biggest conference road win in four decades, routing Pacific in Stockton. That only makes WSU’s loss look worse. … USC picked up its first major win, stopping No. 13 Illinois on the road. … Washington is still on the Big Ten road, which has not been all that kind to West Coast schools. … We watched the end of Boise State’s last-second loss at Utah State. Over and over. And came to the conclusion college officials are still being bamboozled by player’s kicking out their leg on 3-point attempts some 20 years after I first saw it happen. … San Diego State descended into New Mexico’s Pit last night and never really emerged, losing 62-48. … Colorado State locked down UNLV.
Gonzaga: Theo Lawson’s game story focused on Nembhard’s second-half contributions and how the Bulldogs rode them to success. … Jim Meehan added a look at Hickman’s key contributions. … As I said, watching from home I had a TV Take. … Greg Woods was in the building and talked with David Riley for the WSU perspective. … Greg also teamed with the folks in the office for the recap with highlights. … Tyler Tjomsland had the photo assignment and put together this gallery.
EWU: Though the Eagle men were on the road, at Sacramento, Dan Thompson has a game story complete with quotes from Dan Monson’s postgame radio interview. He also has a summary of the women’s home win against the Hornets. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, both Montana teams fell yesterday, with the men blown out by visiting Northern Colorado 81-57 and the women losing for the third consecutive time, this one in Greeley. … The Montana State men rallied past Northern Arizona while the women topped NAU in Flagstaff. … Weber State swept the rivalry games with Idaho State, the women winning in overtime in Utah, the men battling to a road win.
Idaho: After trailing much of the game, the Vandal men pulled into a tie in the second half but never grabbed the lead from host Portland State. From there the Vikings pulled away for a 75-63 victory. In Moscow, the Idaho women won again.
Whitworth: The Northwest Conference schedule is proving to be tougher than the nonconference slate for the Pirate men. It took an overtime buzzer-beater for Whitworth to top visiting Lewis & Clark 76-75 on Saturday night. The women also won in the Fieldhouse, so both teams are 3-1 in NWC play after the four-game homestand.
Preps: There were quite a few smaller school matchups Saturday and Dave Nichols has this roundup. … He also has one on the lone GSL school playing.
Chiefs: Dave returns with a story on Spokane’s 12-2 rout of host Wenatchee. The game featured two Chiefs, Shea Van Olm and new acquisition Andrew Cristall, scoring hat tricks.
Seahawks: We passed along the final grades in the Times yesterday. Here is a link to the story in the S-R today. … Saturday the Falcons fired their defensive coordinator, former Washington head coach Jimmy Lake. Lake graduated from North Central High and Eastern Washington.
Mariners: Seattle placing profitability over playoff potential? Well, I am shocked. … It looks as if Scott Servais has found work in the San Diego organization. … And no, I am not shocked about the Mariners’ offseason.
Kraken: Hey, Seattle won. A come-from-behind win, actually, 6-2 over host Buffalo.
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• If you are wondering – honestly, I know you are not but I wanted to brag – UC Irvine traveled south to UC San Diego last night and showed the Tritons or whatever their called how real teams play. The Anteaters rolled to a 60-52 Big West conference victory, improving its NCAA-worthy record to 15-2. Until later …